While Attorney General Jeff Sessions has advocated a return to the “just say no” policies of the 1980s, residents in his home state of Alabama see things differently, a new poll has found.

In a survey of 2,500 Alabama residents done by AL.com, 78 percent said they favor legalization of marijuana.

For entrepreneurs and investors involved in the legal marijuana industry, the news is, at the very least, interesting. The more optimistic might hope that the views of his fellow Alabamians could influence Sessions as well.

The poll results might come as a surprise to many. In addition to the anti-marijuana rhetoric of Sessions, the former senator and attorney general in Alabama, the state often ranks high among the states not expected to legalize medical, much less recreational use, of marijuana.

In 2016, USA Today ranked Alabama as the No. 1 least likely state to legalize marijuana. Of course, they ranked Arkansas as No. 2, and voters there approved medical marijuana use last November.

Alabamians On Marijuana

Al.com asked readers other questions involving marijuana, at least one of which might seem unusual to those who have never resided in the so-called “Bible Belt” of the United States.

The results of three questions were:

92 percent said alcohol is more dangerous than marijuana

89 percent said smoking marijuana is not a sin (8 percent said that it is)

84 percent said recreational use should be legalized in Alabama

Of course, polls of website readers are not scientific by traditional polling standards. However, even Pew Research Center has started to question whether some of the polls might be more accurate than traditional telephone surveys.

The latest glimpse into Sessions thinking came in a speech in March before law enforcement officials in Richmond, Vir. His speech, which can be read in full here on the attorney general’s website, included a line that compared marijuana to heroin.

“I reject the idea that America will be a better place if marijuana is sold in every corner store,” he said. “And I am astonished to hear people suggest that we can solve our heroin crisis by legalizing marijuana – so people can trade one life-wrecking dependency for another that’s only slightly less awful. Our nation needs to say clearly once again that using drugs will destroy your life.”

At least according to one poll, his view is not in step with a majority of his fellow Alabamians.

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From retailers to growers, producers, and suppliers, there’s a seemingly never-ending list of startup opportunities in this emerging market. In Start Your Own Cannabis Business, marijuana, biotech, and entrepreneurship reporter Javier Hasse introduces forward-thinking entrepreneurs like you to the industry and shares hard-earned tips and success stories from pioneers and visionaries in the marijuana industry.

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